‘Every day matters’
Cancer survivors share message of hope at Relay For Life
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MARSHALL -- The road to surviving cancer is a long one, and it's not easy. But there is hope to keep moving forward, Amy Munson and Paul Blanchard said. Munson and Blanchard, speakers at Thursday's Lyon County Relay For Life, shared words of encouragement for fellow cancer survivors.
"You guys are the most resilient people. And you know how to live. I mean, once you've been told you have cancer, you do. You do live, every day. Every day matters," Munson said.
"Any one of us survivors knows there is absolutely no way you can see the world the same as before you got sick," Blanchard said. "You're certainly changed forever - in a good way. The appreciation you develop for everyone and everything is remarkable. You develop empathy and compassion because you understand how fragile the human condition really is."
The annual Relay For Life of Lyon County was held Thursday evening in Marshall. Cancer survivors, family members and supporters all gathered for an evening of food, fellowship and fundraising for the American Cancer Society. Survivors walked a course marked out with luminaria honoring people whose lives were affected by cancer.
The Lyon County Relay had a bit of a scenery change this year. Instead of holding the event at the National Guard Armory in Marshall, Relay moved to the site of this year's Sounds of Summer, at the corner of Saratoga and College Drive.
"We've been affiliated with Sounds of Summer for the last few years. This is the first year we decided we were going to use their space," said Relay For Life of Lyon County committee member Alyssa Jeppesen. The weather and the location both ended up working out well on Thursday. "It's the perfect space for us, size-wise," Jeppesen said of the site.
Jeppesen said it was good to see the level of participation and community support for Relay in Lyon County. "We're happy to be here in this community," she said.
Thursday's program put the focus on cancer survivors, as Blanchard and Munson shared their own stories with others in "the Big C club," as Blanchard called it.
Blanchard, a Marshall resident and a retired baseball coach at Southwest Minnesota State University, said his journey with cancer started in 1983. Blanchard was diagnosed with Hodgkin's disease when he was a college athlete at the University of Minnesota, but he has continued to deal with cancer all through his life.
"So, what did I learn from all this? Adversity happens. It's nobody's fault. It's part of life," Blanchard said. "Getting sick, in an odd way, actually changed the course of my life. It helped me be a better coach, and I know that sounds weird to you. I was able to understand people better."
Blanchard encouraged cancer survivors to keep working to leave "the Big C club," but also to help others joining the club. "You'll kind of feel an obligation to seek those new members and just talk about the whole experience. It's going to be therapy for them, but it's also therapy for you," he said.
Munson, a Tracy resident, youth and family minister, and mother, said being diagnosed with triple negative breast cancer in July 2022 was "the biggest kick in the gut." Cancer didn't really run in her family, she said.
"I don't remember last August. I was totally in shock the whole month, I think," she said. In addition, a PET scan found a mass in Munson's abdomen that turned out to be ovarian cancer.
After treatment, Munson said she now appears to be clear of cancer, although she's doing more chemotherapy to be on the safe side.
"It's a journey. It's a stinking long journey, with a lot of ups and downs," Munson said of fighting cancer. "And you know, when you get to those down ones, you just take it one thing at a time. You take that one lump at a time and, you know, you just deal with it."
Munson said her own journey has also taught her the importance of living each day and making a difference for others.
"I guess that's my message, is cancer is a journey, and do everything you can, guys. Because we're still living. We're still here, and we're making a difference," she said.